Awake America

The excerpt "Awake America," by W.E.B Du Bois is a very extravagant way of denouncing the racist mentalities within America. The excerpt preaches equality for all people, regardless of race and also questions how a prejudiced nation can cite "One nation under God," in the pledge of allegiance. Du Bois argues within the excerpt that "Wherever the American flag floats today, black hands have helped to plant it." He also states how blacks have fought in wars and served to protect a country that in turn casts them out as virtually inhumane and undeserving of civil rights and liberties. The key concept posed within the argument for black rights was that America is proclaimed to be the "land of the free," and that title alone was justification "to stop lynching and mob violence, stop disenfranchisement for race and sex, abolish Jim Crow cars, resist the attempt to establish and American ghetto, and Stop race discrimination in Civil Services, trade unions, etc."
Factual points were made within in this piece, some of which I found disturbing, particularly when the author stated that 2,867 black people had been lynched over the course of thirty-one years. However, the grotesque part, is that these people were lynched without ever having being tried and/or convicted of any crimes. This excerpt helped to open my eyes to some of the harsh realities of the Jim Crow Era.
Du Bois' point was truly emphasized when he compared the savage treatments of slavery and racism, to other countries probably deemed massively inferior to the United States. "Russia has abolished the ghetto-shall we restore it?"
The ways in which African Americans have contributed to the country artistically, musically, and through literature are also mentioned. Du Bois poses valid arguments within the passage, all the while emphasizing the contradictions of the words in which Americans live by to the manner in which they behave. The point is definitely driven home at the end of the excerpt when it is written; "No land that loves to lynch 'niggers' can lead the hosts of Almighty God."